[J. Ferment. Technol., Vol. 65, No. 4, 441-447.

1987]

A New Composting Model and Assessment of Optimum

Operation for Effective Drying of
Composting Material

KIYOHIKO NAKASAKI*, JUNXCHI KATO, TETSUO AKIYAMA,

a n d HIROSHI KUBOTA**

Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Shizuoka University,

Hamamatsu 432, Japan

A new model is proposed to deal with the composting reaction. This model made
it possible to calculate the courses of the rate of carbon dioxide evolution, volatile matter
conversion, temperature, and moisture content under various aerating operations.
The prediction by the model was compared with measurements in laboratory a n d
commercial scale compostings, and was found to agree satisfactorily with the measure-
ments. The model was then used to search for the optimum conditions to obtain
sufficiently dry compost.
There are two key factors that affect the rate of water vaporization in eomposting:
the aeration rate and the reaction temperature. These two factors are interrelated.
The optimum reaction temperature for biological reaction was approximately 60°Q
regardless of the aeration rate in the parameter range studied. The calculation based
on this model suggests that water can be eliminated most effectively when the aeration
is so controlled as to keep the reactor at its optimum reaction temperature i.e., 60°C.
The drying efficiency was evaluated in terms of the rate of water removal and the total
amount of water removed in one batch operation.

Since c o m p o s t i n g is a b i o l o g i c a l process,
a m i c r o b i a l p o p u l a t i o n is essential for it to
function. A i r m u s t b e p r o v i d e d to s u p p l y
demands imposed by organic decomposition.
T h e air, w h i c h is h e a t e d b y the c o m p o s t i n g
m a t e r i a l , d r a w s w a t e r , thus d r y i n g it to
a degree. T h e r e g u l a t e d a i r s u p p l y in effect
leads to the control o f h e a t r e m o v a l . T h u s ,
one c a n keep the c o m p o s t i n g t e m p e r a t u r e a t
the o p t i m u m level for m i c r o b i a l a c t i v i t y
t h r o u g h the c o n t r o l o f a e r a t i o n . A e r a t i o n
a n d d r y i n g a r e n a t u r a l l y i n t e r r e l a t e d , b u t it
is b y n o m e a n s simple, because the d r y i n g is
l i n k e d to the h e a t g e n e r a t i o n associated w i t h
the d e c o m p o s i t i o n o f o r g a n i c m a t t e r b y
a m i c r o b i a l p o p u l a t i o n , o f w h i c h the a c t i v i t y
* To whom all correspondence should be addressed.
** Research Laboratory of Resource Utilization,
Tokyo Institute of Technology, Nagatsuta, Midori-
ku, Yokohama 227, Japan
is i n t u r n d e p e n d e n t on a e r a t i o n . M a c g r e g o r
et al.l) e v a l u a t e d t h e r e l a t i o n s h i p b e t w e e n
the a e r a t i o n a n d d r y i n g b y a field-scale
experiment. The composting temperature
was c o n t r o l l e d a t t h r e e set levels, 45, 55, a n d
65°C b y r e g u l a t i n g the a e r a t i o n rate. I n
r e a l i t y the e o m p o s t i n g pile was so large
(6000 kg) t h a t it was n o t possible to a t t a i n
a u n i f o r m t e m p e r a t u r e t h r o u g h o u t t h e pile.
C o n s e q u e n t l y the c o m p o s t i n g r e a c t i o n d i d
not p r o c e e d uniformly. Nevertheless, it was
stated t h a t the m o i s t u r e c o n t e n t decreased
the most w h e n the c o m p o s t i n g t e m p e r a t u r e
was c o n t r o l l e d a t 45°C i n s t e a d o f h i g h e r
t e m p e r a t u r e s , i.e., 55 a n d 65°C. T h i s t e m p e r -
ature, 45°C, is lower t h a n the o p t i m u m
r e a c t i o n t e m p e r a t u r e . Therefore, it has been
c o n s i d e r e d t h a t the o p t i m u m t e m p e r a t u r e
for w a t e r r e m o v a l is l o w e r t h a n t h a t for
m i c r o b i a l reaction. T h i s conclusion, how-
 442 NAKASAKIet al.
ever, was derived from ill-controlled experi-
mental conditions as described above, the
validity of which is questionable.
The objective of this study is first, to
present a new model that can describe the
composting process better than any other
models reported to date in the literature;
second to elucidate the relationship between
the aeration and drying by using the new
model.
N e w Composting Model
Previous work Numerous models
have been proposed for the composting
reaction. *-7~ However, only simple equa-
tions have been used to describe the
reaction. *-5) Composting is very compli-
cated and can not be effectively described
by a simple equation. In fact, no comparison
was made between the models and measure-
ments3 -4) Prediction based on models were
compared with measurements by Finger,5)
Kawakami,8) and Bach.~) The oxygen
limited case was treated by Finger. 5) In
practice, however, the air supply is con-
siderably in excess of the stoichiometrically
required value to obtain a well dried product
in high rate composting. Consequently,
the study of the oxygen-limited case is of
little practical use. The prediction of the
course of the reaction such as temperature
and moisture content was made by models, n,7)
in which the mass and heat balance equations
were solved simultaneously. Satisfactory
agreements were observed between the pre-
dictions and measurements. T o obtain heat
generation, however, the calculations based
on these models need measured reaction
rates at every step. T h a t is, the prediction
of the reaction rate was not possible. For
this reason the usefulness of these model
studies are limited.
Present m o d e l We deal with a model
for a semibatch composting reactor, where air
is continuously supplied into stationary corn-
posting material. The reaction is thought to
be homogeneous in terms of temperature i.e.,
the solid and air temperatures are assumed to
be identical all the time within the reactor.
[J. Ferment. Technol.,
T h e overall heat balance is in Eq. (I) where
qa (Eq. 3) is the heat eliminated by aeration,
q,, (Eq. 4) the latent heat of water vapori-
zation, ql (Eq. 5) the heat loss from the
reactor's outer surface, q, (Eq. 6) the sensible
heat change in composting mass, and qr
(Eq. 2) the heat generated metabolically
by microorganisms.
qr=qa+qw+q~+qs (1)
q,=QoGo(Zo--Z,') (2)
qa=CpgGo[(1 +~Zc') T-- Tg0] (3)
qw=0_wa0[(1+~Zo')y'-yo'] (4)
q1= UA(T-- T,o) (5)
q~=(cp.ws+c~,,w,,+c~,wr)
×dT/dO (6)
Where, A is the surface area of the reactor,
Cpt the heat capacity of i component, Go
the molar flow rate of dry supplied air,
Q0 the amount of heat generated metabolical-
ly per mole of oxygen consumed, Q , the
latent heat change per mole of water vapori-
zation, U the overall heat transfer coefficient,
T the temperature of the composting mass,
T,0 the ambient temperature, Wi the
weight of i component, y', yo' the molar ratio
of water vapor to dry exit gas and to dry
supplied air, respectively, Zo, Z,' the molar
fraction of oxygen in dry supplied air and in
dry exit gas, respectively and Zc' the molar
fraction of carbon dioxide in dry exit gas.
The subscripts r, s, and w represent reactor,
dry solid, and water, respectively. ~ refers
to the molar increment of total dry gas per
mole of carbon dioxide evolved.
The q~ can also be described using the
oxygen consumption rate, --ro2 as
q~= --ro,QoW, (7)
The rate of change in temperature of corn-
posting material is:
d T/dO= (q,--q,--q.,--q~)/
(c,.w,+c,,,w.+co~wd (8)
Mass balance equations for dry solid and
water are shown respectively in Eqs. (9)
and (10).
d W~/dO= -- YGoZ" (9)
 Vol. 65, 1987]
d XvM at 0-----2 through the integration of
+3Zo')y'--yo'] (10)
where, M,, is molecular weight, Y the
conversion factor (g organic matter reduced
per mole of carbon dioxide evolved), y the
water generation factor (g water generated
per mole of carbon dioxide evolved).
Equation (9) can also be written using the
CO2 evolution rate, rco, as,
dW,/dO=--rco, YW~
T h e details of heat and mass balance equa-
tions were described in our previous paper.7)
In this model, heat and mass balance
equations, (8), (10), and (11) were solved
simultaneously together with Eqs. (3), (4),
(5), and (7), where the dependence of the
reaction rate on temperature and degree of
organic matter decomposition as shown in
Fig. 1 was incorporated. The data in Fig. 1
were obtained using an isothermal reactor
in our previous work. s) The initial con-
ditions used were:
r c o , : 1 × 10 -7 mole CO2 evolved/h/g
dry solid of compost
Xv~ = 0 %
T : T0°C at 0----0
Using the above initial conditions, T and
X w at time 0 = 1 were calculated from the
mass and heat balance equations. Then the
carbon dioxide evolution rate at time 0----1
was found from Fig. 1 for given (or calcu-
lated) T and XvM at 0=1. The resultant
values in turn were used to obtain T and
2o
~,,~ 12
o stantially smaller than the total reaction time.
o 10 20 30 40
Conversion of vH (%)
Fig. 1. D e p e n d e n c e o f COg evolution rate on re-
action t e m p e r a t u r e a n d volatile m a t t e r conversion.
A New Composting Model 443
Eqs. (8), (10), and (I1). Figure 1 is again
used to obtain the carbon dioxide evolution
rate for given T and XvM at 0 = 2 . An
interpolation and extrapolation technique
may be used in Fig. I. T h e preceding
procedure was continued to calculate the
courses of the reaction rate, volatile matter
conversion, temperature, and moisture con-
tent given the initial conditions and the
(11) aeration rate.
I f the initial rco, is zero, the above calcu-
lation can not be done, therefore, it was set
as 1 × 10-~ mole CO2 evolved/h/g dry solid
of compost on the basis of the following
experimental findings. T h e specific carbon
dioxide evolution rate of mesophilic bacteria,
which are dominant in the initial stage of
composting, is of the order of 10 -14 to 10-15
mole CO2 evolved/cell/h, and the initial
number of mesophilic bacteria is between
10~ and 10Seells/g dry solid of compost.
Equation (7) was used to calculate the heat
generation due to microorganisms. The
oxygen consumption rate was evaluated from
Eq. (12):
--ro,=rco,/RQ (12)
where RQ. refers to the respiratory quotient
for a given temperature. T h e values listed
in Table 1 were those obtained in our
previous work, 9) except the one for 37°C.
The RQ value increased in accordance with
the increase in the reaction temperature.
However, its dependence on the conversion
of volatile matter was small within the
experimental range studied. Thus the aver-
age RQ values, with respect to the conversion
of volatile matter (as listed in Table 1) were
used. T h e RQ value for 37°C was arbitrary
chosen as 0.5, however, the RQ. variation
between 0.4 and 0.8 caused little difference
in the final result. This is because the time
required for the composting material to rise
from room temperature to 37°C is sub-
50
Materials and Methods
Laboratory composting experiment Experi-
 444 NAKASAXXet al. [J. Ferment. Technol.,

ments were done to assess the validity o f the model. had a constant aeration rate, 4.97× 10-SmS/initial
T h e reactor used was an autothermal packed bed kg/h. For R u n I-B, the aeration rate was regulated
reactor (300 m m in diameter, 4 0 0 m m in depth). to keep the reactor temperature at 60°C. The corn-
This reactor was covered with a cubic styrofoam posting operation was halted when the temperature
insulator (1.2 × 1.2 × 1.2 m s) to reduce heat loss from decreased to 45°C, and temperature control by
the reactor wall. Temperature was measured at the aeration became impossible.
bottom, center, and upper parts o f the reactor. C o m m e r c i a l composting experiment The
Temperature difference between upper a n d bottom reactor characteristics o f the M i n a m i t a m a Waste Water
parts o f the reactor was 2°C at the most. Dewatered Treatment P l a n t in Tokyo were investigated in the
sewage sludge cake from the M i n a m i t a m a Waste Water same way as was done in our previous paper?):
Treatment Plant was used. T h e sludge contains lime temperature, the rate o f COs evolution etc. were
and ferric chloride as dewatering agents. The raw measured. T h e commercial scale experiment is called
material used was a mixture of sludge, seed, and rice R u n 2 in this study. The inlet conditions are listed in
husks. The rice husks were added as a bulking agent. Table 1. T h e reactor is o f the horizontal bin type
The physical properties o f the raw mixture are listed in (17.5 m l o n g , 2 m wide and 3 m high). T h e sludge was
Table 1 together with other experimental conditions. mixed with a composting product, which was used as
Two kinds o f experiments; R u n 1-A and R u n l-B, seed. T h e rate o f inlet raw material was adjusted to
different in aerating operations were done. R u n 1-A 3500wet kg/d. Cross-flow aeration was applied

Table 1. Composition and properties o f raw composting materlals and the values
used for model calculation.

Laboratory scale Commercial scale

R u n no.
I-A 1-B 2
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

R a w mixture
weight (kg) 4.03 5.83 3500
moisture content (%) 59. 5 60. 3 50
Dried raw mixture
weight (kg) I. 63 2. 31 1750
heat capacity (keal/kg/°C) 0. 29
R a w sludge
dry weight (kg) 0. 91 1.05 750
V M ratio (%) 47 65 62
Reactor
weight (kg) 7.95
heat capacity (kcal/kg/°C) 0. 28

Temperature o f (°C) 20 12 18
supplied air

V M consumed
Y= CO~ evolved (g/mol COs) 22 16 18

H 2 0 generated
Y= CO~ evolved (g/mol CO~) 15

Overall heat transfer (kcal/kg/°C) 0. 195 24

coefficient

R- O~ consumed 0.79 0.71 0.65 0.55 0.50

U..= CO~-e~]ved (--) (70°C) (62°C) (56°C) (46°C) (37°C)
Relative humidity o f (%) 50
supplied air
 Vol. 65, 1987] A New Composting Model 445

to the reactor, which was divided into three regions so

90 =~
of different aeration rates (see Fig. 4). The reaction ~-_s0
progress was monitored through the measurement of ~v_.
the COz evolution rate, moisture content, temperature, ,0 <~ 808
and conversion of volatile matter. The operation of
the Minamitama plant is continuous with 240 h :,= ,2 IE" X
>
of residence time. For the sake of mathematical ~'~ 8
g
simpilfieation, however, it was treated as a batch ~ 20 "~
operation with the reaction time equal to the residence ~~ 0
time of the continuous operation, 240 h. 20 40 60 80 100
Time (h)

2. C,ourses of temperature (T), CO2 evolution

Results and Discussion
Assessment o f the m o d e l The
relative humidity of supplied air was varied
between 10 and 90%. T h e calculations
based on the model indicated that the
variation in the humidity had little effect on
the reaction rate, temperature, conversion
of volatile matter, and the moisture content
(or the eliminated water quantity). This
is because the exit gas temperature was m u c h
higher than that of supplied air. I n other
words, the vapor pressure of the exit gas was
m u c h higher than that of the inlet air, and
thus the reaction rate, temperature etc. can
not be affected significantly by the variation
in the humidity of the supplied air. T h e
water generation factor 7, which was calcu-
lated in our previous work s) as 15.3 g water
generated/mole CO2 evolved, also had little
effect on the reaction rate, temperature etc.,
because the quantity of water eliminated by
aeration was substantially larger than that
generated metabolically. Therefore, we
chose just one set of data for these values in
the following model calculations i.e. 50%
for the relative humidity of the inlet air, and
15 g water generated/mole CO2 evolved for
Fig.
rate (rco=), moisture content (M), air flow rate
(F) and conversion of volatile matter (VM),
XvM during composting in Run 1-A. Solid lines
refer to measured values and the dotted lines
refer to calculated ones. g ds refers to g dry solid
of compost.
needed to calculate the aeration rate necessary
to control the reactor at 60°C. T h e figures
indicate also that the decrease in the moisture
content is larger in R u n l - A (from 60.3%
to 44.2%) than in R u n I-B (from 59.5% to
58.5%). T h e model was also applied to
a commercial scale composting reactor at
M i n a m i t a m a Waste Water T r e a t m e n t Plant.
Illustrated in Fig. 4 are the calculations
(dotted lines) and measurements (keys).
Excellent agreements can be seen between
them for the moisture content and volatile
matter conversion, but the agreements are
only fair for the carbon dioxide evolution
rate and temperature.
The above comparisons between the calcu-
lations and measurements for R u n l-A,
R u n I-B, and R u n 2 have thus demonstrated
a high credibility of this model for the
80 u.

Figures 2 and 3 show comparisons between ~ 60

the calculations and measurements of the ~.~
E~t.0
courses of the carbon dioxide evolution rate, ~"
20,
volatile matter conversion, temperature, and z~
moisture content for Runs 1-A and l-B, _o~'2
respectively. T h e experimental data for the ~= 8
moisture content are depicted by circles ~_ 20 "~

since the moisture content was measured oS~ 0 30 60 90 120 150 u

intermittently. Both Fig. 2 and 3 show very Time(h)

good agreement between measurements and Fig. 3. T h e course o f composting in R u n ]-B. For
calculations by the model. For R u n 1-B we details, see legend to Fig. 2.
 446 N~z st a/. [J. Ferment. Teclmol.,

20 u. m o i s t u r e c o n t e n t were calculated for R u n

8O
,s RE 1-B d a t a except the aeration, for w h i c h six
~60
v ,0 - - - 0 .... 70--..
. . . . 0 T

F v'.
,oilr;- different conditions were chosen. T w o were
i 2O
__$:LJ I
}( "'°-'r'-~---...o_- c o n s t a n t rate aerations, 5.15 × 10 -8 or 1.72 ×
10 -2 mS/initial kg/h, a n d the other four were
~--~'.. rz02 w i t h controlled aeration, the rates of which
401 s were to keep the c o m p o s t i n g t e m p e r a t u r e at
, .~ . . . . . . ~ , ... 50, 55, 60, a n d 65°C. T h e calculations were
~o __~ /
48
~ _ _ -o f ¢ ~

96
.

144 192
,
0~
240
stopped w h e n the c o m p o s t i n g t e m p e r a t u r e
Time ( h )
decreased to 40°C. T h e results are listed
Fig. 4. The course of composting in Run 2. Keys i n T a b l e 2, together with the average
for the measured values, [] volatile matter con- a e r a t i o n rate. T h e i n i t i a l moisture c o n t e n t
version, ~, COs evolution rate, O temperature was set as 60.3%. T h e reaction time
and O moisture content. Dotted lines refer to varies i n each o p e r a t i o n since the calculation
calculated values.
ended when the reactor temperature
decreased to 40°C. T h e lower the controlled
p r e d i c t i o n of the c o m p o s t i n g reaction, given t e m p e r a t u r e , the larger the average a e r a t i o n
p r o p e r i n i t i a l conditions a n d the d a t a i n rate b e c a m e for the a e r a t i o n rate i n
Fig. 1. the r a n g e of 5 . 1 5 X 1 0 -8 to 1 . 7 2 × 1 0 - a r e s /
Optimum operation for effective dry- i n i t i a l kg/h. W h e n the a e r a t i o n rate was
ing of compostlng m a t e r i a l T h i s model set as high as 3 . 4 4 × 1 0 - a m S / i n i t i a l kg/h,
has thus b e e n confirmed to represent the the c o m p o s t i n g reaction stopped because of
c o m p o s t i n g process satisfactorily. We now the excessive cooling due to aeration, al-
use the m o d e l to evaluate the d r y i n g t h o u g h for the sake of b r e v i t y the d a t a is n o t
efficiency i n the c o m p o s t i n g operation. T h e shown here.
courses of conversion of volatile m a t t e r a n d Tablc 2 indicates that thc volatile matter

Table 2. Coursesof moisture content (upper column) and volatile matter conversion
(lower column) calculated from the model under various aerations.

Reaction time (h) 50 75 100 125 150 175 2OO

Set temperature
50°C 54.6 51.7 50.0 49.2 48. 6 48. 1 47.6
(1"64 × 10-2 ma/initial kg/h)* 13.5 18.9 22.9 25.9 28.5 31.1 32.9
55°C 53.5 50.2 48. 6 47.7 46.9 46.5
(1.61 × 10-3 m3]initial kg/h)* 16.8 23.8 28.6 32.8 35.7 36.7

60°C 52.8 48.6 46.7 45.5 44. 8

(1.43 × 10-2 mS/initial kg/h)* 19. 6 28.3 34.3 38. 5 40. 1

65°C 54.4 51.0 49. 4 48. 3 47.5

(1.06 × 10-2 ma/initial kg/h)* 19.2 28. 3 33. 9 38. 0 39. 6
Set aeration rate
5.15 × 10-a m3/initial kg/h 59.9 59.1 58.2 57.4 56.7 56.2 55. 9
12.4 19. 6 26.3 32.5 37.5 41.4 43.3
1.72 × 10-2 m3/initial kg/h 56.7 52.4 49.4
16.5 26.5 31.3
* average aeration rate
 Vol. 65, 1987] A New Composting Model
conversion holds the highest value at any
moment when the reaction temperature is
controlled at 60°C. Thus the optimum
reaction temperature appears to be at
approximately 60°C. Table 2 also indicates
that the moisture content at any time, and
the final moisture content as well become the
lowest for the 60°C operation. When the
aeration rate was restricted to a low value,
5.15 × 10-s mS/initial kg/h, the reaction
temperature rose to a self-limiting value of
70°C, but the decrease in the moisture content
was much less than that in the 60°C operation.
No great difference can be seen in the
reaction rates between the 60 and 65°C
operations. However, the moisture content
in the 60°C operation shows a higher level
of water diminution efficiency than in the
65°C operation. This occurs as a result of
the heat being used to increase the corn-
posting mass temperature rather than to
decrease the moisture content in the 65°C
operation. The higher rate of heat loss due
to the higher reaction temperature (in the
65°C operation) may have some effect on
the above result.
In view of the preceding calculations we
concluded that, in terms of the rate of water
removal and the total amount of water
removed, the temperature 60°(I, which is
optimum for the reaction is also optimum
447
for the drying efficiency as well. This is
different from the conclusion by Macgregor
et al., x) in which it is stated that the optimum
temperature for drying is lower than that for
the reaction. Our conclusion is based on
a model whose credibility has been confirmed
by well defined experiments, and we feel that
our conclusion is more reliable than that of
Macgregor et al.1~ in the parameter range
studied.
References
1) Macgregor, S. T., Miller, F. C., Psarianos, K. M.,
Finstein, M.S.: Appl. Environ. Microbiol., 41,
1321 (1981).
2) Haug, R.T.: Compost Engineering, Ann Arbor
Science (1980).
3) Takabayashi, H., Kanaya, T., Karashima, K.:
Kankyo G~utsu, 11, 197 (1982).
4) Fujita, K.: Toshi to Haikibutsu, 10, 33 (1980).
5) Finger, S.M., Hatch, R.T., Regan, T.M.:
Biotechnol. Bioeng., 18, 1193 (1976).
6) Kawakami, W., Watanabe, H., Nishimura, K.,
Hashimoto, S.: Gesuido Kyokaishi, 19, 43 (1982).
7) Bach, P.D., Nakasaki, K., Shoda, M., Kubota,
H.: J. Ferment. Technol., 65, 199 (1987).
8) Bach, P. D., Shoda, M., Kubota, H.: J. Ferment.
Technol., 62, 285 (1984).
9) Nakasaki, K., Shoda, M., Kubota, H.: Appl.
Environ. Microbiol., 50, 1526 (1985).
(Received March 9, 1987)